Computing and printing machine



March I0, 94Z. o, J, SUNDSTRAND 2,276,115

COMPUTING AND PRINTING MACHINE original Filed Dec] 18, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 ArroRN'EY 'March 10, 1942. o. J. suNDs-rRANm COMPUTINGl YANH PRINTING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Deo. 18, 1951 INVENTOR 0. d. mvosmmvo.

TI'ORNEY March 10, 1942- v o. J. sUNDsTRAND COMPUTING AND PRINTING MACHINE Original Filed Dec. 18, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Mardi 10, 1942- o. J. suNDsTRAND 2,276,115

COMPUTING AND PRINTING MACHINE Original Filed Deo. 18, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR 0. d. Sa/vasrRA/vo.

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Malh 10, 1942- O. J. SUNDSTRAND 2,275,115

COMPUTING AND PRINTING MACHINE Original Filed Deo. 18, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 lNvENToR 0.- J. SU/vo s TRA No.

w ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 10, 1942 COMPUTING AND PRINTING MACHINE Oscar J. Sandstrand, Bridgeport, Conn., assigner to Underwood Elliott Fisher Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation ot Delaware Original application December 18, 1931, Serial N o. 581,800. Divided and this application J une 30, 1936, Serial No. 88,093

9 Claims.

This invention relates to bookkeeping machines, and more particularly to a tabulating escapement mechanism therefor. This application is a division of my co-pending application, Serial No. 581,800, led December 18, 1931, now Patent No. 2,194,270, issued March 19, 1940.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a tabulating escapement mechanism that is readily adjustable and easily operated, and which will eliminate undue jar ordinarily accompanying carriage tabulation.

With this and incidental objects in view, vthe invention consists in certain novel featuresof construction and combinations of parts, the essential elements o which are set forth in appended claims, and a preferred form of embodiment of which is hereinafter described with reference to the drawings which accompany and form part of the specification.

In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the machine.

Fig. 2 is a back view of the machine with parts of the casing shown in section.

Fig. 3 is a View taken from the' right side of the machine and shows the credit key and its connections with the tabulating escapement parts on the rear of the machine.

Figs. 4 and 5 are details of the credit key and parts connected therewith.

Figs. 6 and 7 are views taken from the left side of the machine and show certain of the parts on the rear of the machine used in controlling the escapement mechanism.

Figs. 8 and 9 are plan views of details of certain of the parts shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

FigL 10 is a back view of details of certain of the escapement parts.

Fig. 11 is a back view taken on the section line Sli-ll in Fig. 6 and shows details of certain of the escapement parts.

Figs. 12 and 13 are detail views similar to Figs. 10 and l1, Fig. 13 being taken on the section line 13-13 in Fig. 7.

Fig. 14 is a perspective view of the escapement parts, together with the connections for actuating these parts from the main actuator, and shows this mechanism as seen from the left front corner of the machine.

in many respects to the machines shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States,

NOS. 1,198,487, 1,455,555, 1,481,487, 1,583,102,

912,168, 1,922,653, 1,934,747, 1,965,611, and 2,- 020,664.

Machines of this character, as illustrated in many of the above patents, are provided with a traveling paper carriage that is tabulated from one position to another throughout its working stroke to provide for listing items in a plurality of vertical columns on a work sheet. This necessitatesa rapid movement of the carriage from one position to another to aline the various columns of a sheet with the printing type. In tabulating work of this nature, since it is desirable to tabulate asrapidly as possible, it is necessary to insure the parts against damage from jar, by the use -of suitable shock-absorbing mechanism.

, The provision of such a mechanism becomes even more imperative when the machine is provided, as in the present case, with parts that causes the carriage to ride past or skip one or more carriage positions.

The present machine also introduces a mechanism settable from the keyboard to cause the machine to skip one or more predetermined co1- umnar positions as desired. Use for such mechanism is found in such types of work as bank posting, where the operator enters the patrons.

deposits and withdrawals. In such instances there will be a large number of checks to be debited from the patrons account and only an occasional deposit to be credited to his account.

It is, therefore, desirable to allow the carriage to ride past the credit column during the majority of operations ci the machine and to stop the carriage in the credit column by a simple keyboard adjustment under control of the operator, for operations involving a deposit.

The present mechanism shows a key labeled .Creditf which, when in its undepressed position, allows the carriage to ride past the deposit column, and when in its depressed position, causes the carriage to be stopped in the deposit column. This is accomplished by providing ythe machine with a skip-tabulation mechanism that is normally effective in the deposit column and which is rendered ineilective by depression of the credit key.

DETAILED DEscBIr'rIoN The machine selected to embody the invention is provided with a cylindrical platen B40, (Fig. 1) supported in a traveling carriage 64|. The carriage is mounted i'or reciprocatory movement on theY machine framea by being supported by suitable anti-friction bearings riding in track members 642, one of which is shown in Fig. 2.

Carriage actuating mechanism The means herein shown for imparting the working stroke to the carriage comprises a spring drum 643, (Fig. 2), connected to the carriage by a tape 644. Within the drum is a spiral spring (not shown) tending to revolve the drum in the direction to move the carriage toward the right in this gure. A governor of any preferred type may be employed to prevent the carriage from reaching an excessive velocity on long tabulations. Such a governor is indicated in the present drawings at 655A, and is shown as being driven from the spring drum 643 through a gear 655B. The means for controlling the operation of the spring drum to position the carriage for the performance of operations in the desired columnar positions of the carriage includes escapement elements supported on a plate 656 (Fig. 14), mounted onthe machine frame in such a manner as to have a limited sliding movement in relation thereto. This sliding movement is in a direction parallel to the movement of the carriage and is made possible through the provision of slots 658 in the plate 656 registering with screws 651 mounted in the machine frame. The means tending to move the plate 656 toward the right comprises a spring 659 connected to the upper arm of a lever 668 pivoted at 66|. The upper arm of said lever carries a stud 662 lying within a fork 663 on the plate 656. The lower arm of the lever 66|) is connected to a dash-pot 664 (Fig. 2), of any desired construction. When the carriage is released from the escapement elements on the plate 656, the spring 659 moves the plate to its right hand position wherein the left hand end walls of the slots 658 are in engagement with the screws 651, as shown in Fig. 14.

A lever 665 is mounted for pivotal movement on a stud 666 secured in the plate 656. The right hand end of the lever 665 constitutes an escapement tooth 668 co-acting with a companion escapement tooth 669 formed upon a slide 610 mounted for vertical movement on the plate 656 by means of a screw 61| extending through a vertically elongated opening 612 in the slide 618, and by a lever 68| pivoted to the slide 616 and fulcrumed on a stud 682 secured to the plate 656. A spring 613 normally holds the tooth 669 in its lower ineiective position, as shown in Fig. 14. A spring 614 tends to-hold the escapement tooth 668 on the lever 665 in its upper position. The carriage is provided with a plurality of stops 615 (one for each position in which it is desired to have the carriage stop) to co-act with the escapement teeth 668 and 669. When the carriage is moved by the spring drum it brings a stop 615 against the escapement tooth 668, the latter being pushed to the left, through the provision of an elongated slot 661 (Fig. through which the pivot stud 666 extends, until the right end of the lever 665 strikes against an abutment 616, shown in this figure and also in Fig. 14. This movement of lever 665 tensions spring 614. The abutment 616 is preferably of such character as to reduce noise andshock. Herein it is shown as composed of a plate having a slit 611 therein, whereby the portion of the plate which is struck by the lever 665 is caused to yield to a slight degree. It might be here stated that the spring in the drum 643 is sufficiently strong to hold both the lever 665 and the plate 656 in their left-hand positions (Fig. 14) when the carriage is at rest,

causing the springs 614 and 659 to be normally under tension.

When the paper carriage is in its position of rest, one of the stops 616 rests against the escapenient tooth 668. When the carriage is to be released for movementffrom one columnar position to another, the tooth 668 is lowered and the tooth 669 is raised simultaneously therewith. These teeth are so positioned that the tooth 669 is elevated sumciently to lie in the path of movement of the stop 615 before the tooth 668 is lowered sumciently to release the stop (see Figs. 11 and 12), so that before the carriage is freed for its tabulation it moves from its position oi contact with the tooth 668 to a position of contact with the tooth 669, these teeth being offset an increment in the direction of the carriage travel, as shown in Figs. l0 to 13. After the -to the slide 610 at 683.

teeth are so moved, and the coacting stop 615 has moved from engagement with tooth 668 to engagement with tooth 669, the plate 610 is lowered to its original position. This movement causes release of the carriage to the action of spring drum 643, which causes the desired tabulation and brings the stop 615, associated with the next columnar position, to be brought into contact with tooth 668. In the tabulation just described the lowering of tooth 669 is accompanied by a raising of tooth 668, the latter being held out oi its fully raised position until after the stop 615 passes to the left thereof, after which movement the tension of spring 614 causes it to be restored to its original position in time to arrest the next stop 615.

Automatic operation of the escapement The means for thus reciprocating the escapement teeth 668 and 669 is actuated automatically in the cycling of the machine. This means includes a lever 618 pivoted on a stud 619, the right hand end of said lever being forked to engage pin' 680 carried by the lever 66| pivoted to the plate 656 at 682. The lever 68| is pivoted The pin 680 overlies an angular lug 684 on the lever 665, Figs. l0 and l2. The left hand end of the lever 618 (Fig. 14) overlies the slide 685 arranged to be reciprocated by means of the lever 686 pivoted at 681. The lever 686 is connected to one arm of a lever 65|, the other arm of which is connected by a link 652 with a lever 20 having a Geneva movement with a plate |6 secured to the main actuator shaft |1. In the irst half of the cycle, clockwise movement of the shaft |1 and plate I6 causes a roller I8 mounted thereon to move along a concentric surface |9a and 'engage a notch |9b. Further movement of the roller |8 causes the lever 20 to be raised, thereby raising the slide 685 and the tooth 669 and lowering the tooth 668. Continued movement of the roller I8 does not affect the lever 28 since during this movement the roller rides along the concentric surface |9c. During the second half of the cycle, when the roller I8 again engages the notch |9b, the slide 685 is lowered, allowing the spring 613 to lower the tooth 6,69 to release the carriage for its tabulating movement. As the slide 685 is lowered, the stud 680 on the lever 68| is raised, allowing the spring 614 to tension the tooth 638 toward its raised position.

Manual tabulation Means is also provided for manually operating the escapement to permit the carriage to move from one column to the next. This means includes the tabulating key 688, Figs. 1 and 14, carried by a lever 689 pivoted at 265. On the rear end of the lever 689 are two lugs 698 and 66|. 'I'he lug 690 underlies the left arm of the lever 618 while the lug 69| underlies the left arm of a lever 698. Depression of the tabulating key 688 will raise the left arm of the lever 618, thereby raising the escapement tooth 669 and lowering the escapement tooth 668. When the operator releases the key 688. a spring 692. connected to this key and to the machine frame, restores the key to its normal position. Such restoration allows the spring 618 to lower the escapement tooth 669, releasing the 'carriage as above explained. l

The lever693 is pivoted on a screw 666, the right handar'm of said lever having an angularlug 684 overlying the lever 665. This mechanism provides an extra release so that when the left end of the lever 618 is moved rearwardly in the machine by depression of a normalizer key (not shown), vmoving a lever 86|, Fig. 14, clockwise about a pivot 882, to such an extent that the lever 618 nolonger lies above the lug 698 and the slide 685, it will still be possible to tabulate the carriage by depression of the tabulating key. It will be noted, however, that in such instances, although the lever 665 is lowered from the path of the stop 615, the escapement tooth 669 is not simultaneously raised as when these parts are operated by movement of the lever 618. This is due to the fact that the lower arm of the lever 665 lies under the pin 686 but does not embrace it as does the right hand end of lever 618. This makes it possible to allow the carriage to travel through its entire distance to the left should the tabulator key be held depressed. This differs from the usual tabulating action in which the tabulator key 'must be depressed and released once for each tabular step of the carriage.

Tabulation control by credit key As explained in the general description, in some forms of work it is desirable to alter the tabulating arrangement, so that the carriage will skip one or more columnar positions or stop in one or more additional columnar positions. A credit key 868 (Figs. 3 and 4) is therefore provided to selectively control the tabulating movements of the carriage. This key is mounted on a stem 84| guided for vertical movement in the keyboard. The lowei` end of the key stem lies above a pin 842 on an arm 848 pivoted in the machine frame at 86d. The arm 843 is connected to a lever 845 (Figs. 3 and 5) by a bail 845a. A link 866 is pivoted to the lever 845 and to a bail 881 at the rear of the machine. This bail is pivoted at 868 and has a pin 849 (Figs. 3 and 14) extending from its left side and engaging a fork 850 on the lower end of a slide 85| mounted in the machine frame for vertical movement. A cam 852 is provided on the upper end of the slide 85| and is located normally in a position to actuate a slide 858 mounted for lateral travel with the carriage. The key 848 and cam 852 are held in their raised positions by a spring 853 (Fig. 3) connected to the forward end of the link 846 and to the machine frame. An independent means, including a spring 856 and an arm 855 bearing against a pin 855a on the stem of the key 868, is provided as an additional means for holding the key elevated to the exclusion of Jthe action of the spring 853.

The mounting for the slide 658, Figs. 6, 7 and 14, includes two headed studs 859 secured to the side of the channel bar 11| carried by the traveling carriage. The' studs 859 extend through slots in the slide 858, providing for a limited slid'- ing movement of the slide 858 in respect to the channel 11|. A spring 860 (Figs. 6 and 14) is fastened at one end to a stud 860m on the rear end of the channel bar 11| and at the other end to a lug 860i: on the side of -the slide 858. The spring 860 thus has a tendency to 'pull the slide 858 toward the rear of the machine.

When the credit key 480 is not depressed, the cam 852 vis in its normalor elevated position, where it lies in the path of a tail 858a extending downwardly from the rear end of the slide 858 as the carriage moves into a columnar position. The tail 858a moves into contact with the right hand end of the'cam 852, causing the slide 858 ton be cammed forwardly of the machine. This camming movement takes place before the stop 615 reaches the tooth 668, and moves a cam 863,

,formed on the forward end of the slide 858, into the path of a stud 863a projecting from rear side of the lever 665. As the carriage continues its movement into the tabular position, the cam 863, now heldin alinement with the stud 863a by the tail 856a riding along the dwell portion 852a of the cam 852, depresses the tooth 668 and holds it in this'position until the stop 615 moves past the tooth. This causes the carriage to ride past or -skip" this tabular position. It will be understood that slides 858 are not provided on all the channel bars 11|, but on only those used in stopping the carriage in the credit entry columns.

It will be seen that when the credit key 840 is depressed, the link 846 is moved toward the rear of the machine, lowering the cam 852 from the path or travel of the tails 858a.A With the cam in this position, the slides 858 remain in their rear positions during movement of the carriage into the credit entry positions, and since the cams 863 are now out of alinement with the stud 863a, the tooth 668 remains eiective to stop the carriage in these positions.`

While the form of mechanism herein shown and described is admirably adapted to fulll the objects primarily stated, it is to be understood that it is not intended to conne the invention to the one form of embodiment herein disclosed for it is susceptible of embodiment in various forms all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination of a machine frame, a laterally movable carriage thereon, means for moving the carriage for tabulating, a tabulating stop on the carriage, a co-acting tabulating stop on the machine frame movable during machine operations to release itself from the co-acting stop to permit the said means to move the carriage for tabulation from column to column, and means on the carriage for moving the stop on the machine frame to ineffective position for skipping predeterminedcolumns, the last mentioned means being operated by the carriage through its lateral movement.

2. The combination of a machine frame, a laterally movable carriage thereon, a' tabulating frame, through travel of the carriage and means for moving the cam to a position out of the path of the means on the carriage. y

3. In a machine of the class described, a machine frame, a laterally movable paper carriage thereon, a tabulating control on the carriage, a tabulating control on the machine frame normally lying in a position to cooperate with the control on the carriage to arrest movement of the carriage, and a slide mounted on the first mentioned control and having means for rendering the second mentioned control ineffective, the slide being movable to an effective and an ineffective position.

4. The combination of a machine frame, a laterally movable paper carriage thereon,'a control element connected to the carriage, the inner end of said element constituting a tabulating stop,

a co-acting tabulating stop on the machine.

frame, a slide mounted on said control element and being shiftable to an effective and an ineffective position, means on said slide arranged to disable the tabulating stop on the: machine frame when the slide is in its effective position, and means movable to effective and ineffective positions, for shifting said slide when the carriage is moved relatively to the means.

5. The combination of a machine frame, a laterally movable paper carriage thereon, a control element connected to the carriage, the inner end of said element constituting a tabulating stop, a co-acting tabulating stop on the machine frame, a slide mounted on said control element and shiftable to two positions, means on said slide to disable the tabulating stop on the machine frame when the slide is inone of its positions, and means for shifting said slide.

6. In a bookkeeping machine, in combination, a main frame, a laterally movable paper carriage mounted thereon and arranged to be tabulated to carry a work sheet past a series of columnar positions, two tabulating stops on the carriage, a co-acting movable tabulating stop on the -main frame, a. separate adjustable means associated with each stop on the carriage to move the stop on the main frame to a position where it will not co-act with the stops on the carriage, and means to move one of said adjustable means to effective position at one point in thetravel of the carriage,- and the other adjustable means to ef-- fective position at another point in the travel of the carriage.

7. In a computing-printing machine, a machine frame, a traveling carriage thereon, a unitary structure secured on the carriage, one end of which structure constitutes a tabulating stop, a co-acting stop supported by the frame to arrest movement of the carriage when the two stops coact, a slide mounted on said structure and being shiftable to an effective and an ineffective position, one end of the slide constituting a means to move one of the stops to a non-coacting position, a spring acting on the slide to hold it normally in ineffective position, and means to shift the slide to effective position.

8. In a computing-printing machine having a traveling carriage, a unitary structure one end of which constitutes a tabulating stop, a coacting tabulating stop, one of the stops being supported on the carriage and the other on the machine frame, to arrest movement of the carriage when the two stops coact, and a slide mounted on said structure, one end of the slide constituting a means to move one of the stops to a non-coacting position.

9. In a machine of the class described having a bed portion, a. traveling carriage, and means for moving the carriage laterally, the combination of a tabulating device including a pair of teeth for controlling the movement of the carriage, one of the teeth being normally effective and the other tooth being normally ineffective, means for alternating the effectiveness of the teeth for each tabulation, means on the carriage for moving the normally eiective tooth to an ineil'ective position, to effect skip tabulation, and means on the bed portion to control the operation of the last mentioned means.

OSCAR J. SUNDSTRAND. 

